5 Healthiest, Unhealthiest States for 2012

Find out how your state stacks up in the annual rankings

No. 4 Unhealthiest State: West Virginia

West Virginia also took a slide, going from 43rd overall to 47th. Its ever-climbing obesity rate is the third-worst in the nation, and its smoking rate climbed for the second consecutive year to make it the second-highest overall at nearly 29%.

Toss in a high prevalence of sedentary lifestyle, obesity and diabetes, as well as a high rate of preventable hospitalizations, and you have the fourth-worst state on our list — despite the fact that it shells out nearly $130 per person on public health funding. That’s the fourth-highest number for the whole nation, with only Alaska, Hawaii and Vermont topping the total.